PS4: Sony’s Moment of Truth

The Xbox 360 holds the cards. In the next generation, Sony will need to make a comeback.

The next generation is right around the corner. With the next iteration of Microsoft’s Xbox, currently referred to as Xbox 720, possibly finding its way to store shelves later this year and an increase in reports and rumors regarding Sony’s PlayStation 4, the next several months will be brimming with new and exciting previews of the next several years of gaming. In some respects the next generation has already begun, with Nintendo releasing the Wii U last November. The next console war is imminent.

"The report also highlights that just this past December, Sony's PS3 managed to surpass the number of Xbox 360s shipped worldwide (about 77 million vs. 76 million), despite the PS3 launching a year later."

Well Sony is a near bankrupt company. I doubt they will even have the budgets to make a proper Ps4 launch.

Back in 2000 Sony was worth 200 billion usd. Today they are hardly worth 10 billion usd. They will need to a miracle to make a turn around. As a company they have only been posting losses since the last 4 years.

I would be vary of buying any Sony products since if they close down, no future support.

@chuk5

Check Sony stocks they are only getting decimated. Sony as a company is in trouble. Failing divisions mean even the gaming division did well it wouldnt be enough for the company in the long run. No company can sustain itself indefinetly on losses.

@below

Lol learn to read i said 10 billion. Not 10 million. 10 billion in todays world is nothing. Specially with when sony is competing with companies like Ms who is worth 220billion. Potentially Apple who is worth near 600billion or hell even a company like samsung who is worth 200 billion.

How is Sony to compete with these companies in any field when they can out spend sony on R&D, marketing etc. Its not possible not without a miracle.

@decrypt, While I'd certainly agree that Sony are in a lot of trouble, they do have plenty of money and infrastructure to spend incredibly much on R&D.

Kaz Hirai has bought out Ericsson, bought a considerable amount of shares in Nikon and made many deals in several departments. They've also had huge lay offs, and are selling away huge chunks of their chemical department. That's what they're doing. Liquidating failing branches and investing even more into the ones they think can be profitable. PlayStation is one of the latter, so they're not all that likely to take it easy with the PS4.

Also, after a plummet earlier this year Sony stock has been fairly stable.

@Bitbydeath Yeah, that is a great example of Sony's current tactic. Scrap together money and invest. Gaikai, EMI, you name it.

Btw, if you disagree. Go to Wikinvest or forbes or wherever and take a look at Sony's stock, their investments and their stated business strategy. That's generally what I'm noting down here.

Dear god Decrypt, I didn't know someone could type that much nonsense. Well done you.

Just to clarify as you seem confused. The difference between a struggling giant that is still worth billions and a bankrupt company is very vast indeed. Sony are currently undergoing significant restructuring to address the issue (the TV department might as well smash them with hammers when they roll off the line) which has already steadied metaphorical boat. It will take time (think years) for the effects to truly show. You seem to also be oblivious to the fact that circumstances change and new competion arises. Think Apple's emergence as a technology superpower or the rise of Kia in the car market.

How in the hell is Sony near bankrupt? That hardly makes any sense. Sony's total assets increased since 2011. The net worth of Sony as of 2012 is 13.7 Trillion Yen approx, 150B USD. That is not near bankruptcy. Even though Sony has posted fiscal losses, it does not mean they're going out of Business. I also don't know what you're talking about with R&D and marketing. Sony's spent fortunes on R&D and marketing when the PS3 came out in '07, there were tons of ad's marketing that machine. Also, when the Vita released, there were ad's of the vita on literally every channel for the first few mounths of it's release.

That's a report, not officially backed numbers. I think it's more from the opinion that Sony has suffered a significant economic loss on the ps3, and while sales are steadying, in comparison MS has been placed in a better position economically to start next gen.

There is no doubt MS has deep pockets and makes money more than Sony and Nintendo combined.

But that is not the Xbox division.

MS lost more money on 360 than it did on the first Xbox, LOST SO MUCH MONEY ON ITS Japanese campaign, to piracy, xbox live account hacks, to exclusivity deals and non exclusivity deals against Ps3, so on and so forth. Yet it still cant be the world's number one gaming platform.

My point still is that MS is economically better situated for next-gen. A point which you didn't counter or address very much, so the rest of your post is a bit irrelevant. I mean piracy isn't 360 exclusive.

Miyamoto, bro, why resort to lies? The Xbox 360 covered ALL its losses back in the 2011 and started making an overall profit. "Now Microsoft is over the hump: the business group containing Xbox has turned an operating PROFIT for EACH of the last 11 QUARTERS (last 4 years back then), including a $1.05 BILLION PROFIT last quarter thanks to sales of Kinect." http://articles.businessins... With Xbox Live alone bringing in nearly a billion every single year in revenue, it's no suprise Xbox 360 has been a commercially successful venture for Microsoft. So no, they have not lost more than they did with the original Xbox, not even close. Sony on the other hand blew through ALL the profit that the ps1 and ps2 made them by launching the PS3 and has yet to recover that. The ps3 may be profitable per unit sold, but it has yet to completely recoup the 4.7 billion SONY sunk into it. http://www.vg247.com/2009/1... Know your facts bro.

miyamoto, you really need to do your homework. The Xbox 360 has been much more of a success story for Microsoft than the original Xbox in many ways. They have also acquired key publisher support as well and are in good financial shape leading into next generation.

Game forums are the last place to get any real indication of what is going to happen next generation. Not when you have fans rooting for their preferred company.

In response to some of the comments above by Miyamoto etc they are in a GREAT position come next gen especially with all the acquisition of developers and such. There's no denying that overall, Microsoft has done way better this gen than Sony. I mean, I like Sony and wanna see them succeed too, but from a business perspective they have struggled a bit to get things off the ground for them, so overall, Microsoft is economically a lot stronger than Sony. Of course PS3 has basically matched Xbox 360 sales but Sony has lost a lot of money trying to get the PS3 where it is. Microsoft's spending this gen has not been a LOSS but rather an input that has yielded great gains for their company. Throwing 10million$ or so at a developer to help Microsoft have early exclusivity (Treyarch, IW) has yielded more sales on the Xbox 360 side of CoD for example, which means they likely made back these inputs quite easily.

Simple business, people. Doesn't take a University Commerce student (me) to figure that one out haha.

"ps3 over taking xbox really wasn't a surprise it was only matter of time"

I totally agree. But why did it take them so long? And why did the 360 need over taking at all? The PS2 was the best selling console ever and, unlike the Wii, those PS2 sales were from the hardcore not casuals. Now Sony has sold half as many systems which means half their customers switched to Xbox. Half! That's a big loss and Sony can only blame themselves. They were unprepared for the launch of the 360, they released too late, and at too high a price thanks to that cell processor.

I'm as big of a Sony fan as anyone, and have no love for Microsoft, but I'm not blind to the mistakes they made.

Not that I really care, I'm still buying a PS4 day one. I just hope Sony gets their PS2 era mojo back.

It's always the natural thing for people to look the other way when something frightening is coming. Second place is assured and first place is possible. People like you might want to bury your head deep but I'm afraid that all those Sony fans you scoffed at aren't going to let you forget for a very very long time. I will only mention it if people like you gloat in 720 thread but I'm afraid others won't. It all came home to roost.

Sony fans he scoffed at for what exactly? Why do people round these parts act as though their consoles and companies that make them are an extension of themselves? Honestly, this goes out to all sides, why are you so emotionally vested in this?? It is just a freaking piece of plastic

Agreed. It would have been nice to have discussed Uncharted or TLOU without 360 fans flooding the thread and telling us how terrible they are. It would have been nice to buy a PS3 without people constantly going on about it being a failure and how Sony would soon be pulling out the games industry. In fact, it would have been nice to come here and share my likes and dislikes with my PS3 friends in peace and isolation, but it never happened. I just see this as poetic judgement and nothing less than the PS3 fans deserve on here after years of gloating from 360 owners.

360 fans are going to have a rough time on here for the foreseeable future, but I have to say they made their bed, they must now lay in it. Oh, there will be gloating if the 720 releases first and yes, I will remind them of history (as I did many times during this gen) but Sony fans won't be none too bothered. They'll quietly and politely remind them of what they said about the PS3.

I did not create this situation, I was just unwillingly caught up in it. If Sony fans gloat, then I'll always ask for fairness, but in all honestly, I can't blame them.

I'm far from being an Xbox fanboy (mostly PC fan), but it has been well-known that the PS3 fanboys on n4g have been rabid and have treated fans of other systems absolutely horribly the whole generation. Quit acting like a victim, because it is the farthest thing from the truth.

Sorry Starchild, but back when N4G had the Openzone and the PS3 had just come out this place was firmly entrenched in the 360 fanboys camp. The kind that would verbally attack you just for having a PS3 and wanting to talk about it. I'd say those early years of the gen on here were far worse than now.

I don't condone the PS3 fanboys these days either but they were created by the 360 fanboys who forced PS3 owners into a corner and forced them to fight back, and in turn created a monster.

I remember one troll in particular who used the robot from the awful, Asimov defiling, iRobot film as his avatar. He alone was worse than all the trolls currently operating, including J-blaze.

The Phantom!!!! Lmao Jesus Christ mate, haven't heard that name get mentioned in a long time. Wasn't that the 'reportedly' PC-Console that was just a bare bone basic pc with a crap plastic casing that some guy want to flog for 6x times the true value??

They've just over taken 360 in sales...I think they've already made that comeback. They released over 1yr after 360 for a considerably higher price, so I would say that MS are the ones that need to do something drastic, as I only see PS3 overtaking 360 sales by another 10-20million over the next 2yrs....and yes, that is with a PS Orbis release at the end of this year. Sony consoles have always sold massively towards the twilight years of there gen, due to the masses of casuals that aren't willing to fork out $599 or $499 or $399 or even $299 for a videogame console, many of them will bite at $199, but even then, there are still many that will not upgrade from a PS2 or Xbox 1, until there console of choice hits $99.

And yes strigo & Jdoki, I have stated in other Sony doom topic that are rifled across this site & the net in general, that we have gone back in time to those 3-4 yrs from when PS3's price was stated onwards, to the Sony hate....from media to fanboys, Sony can't catch a break. They even copped flakk for there 4K tv showing at TGS when it was actually MS's windows that screwed up....But we hardly hear a skerrick of bad stuff about MS's latest crappy OS & the 3yrs it took them to maybe fix the 360's RROD plague.

Nintendo & MS seem unable to cop negative press, & MS even moreso, because they are an American company, seem impervious to copping crap. Sony cop the most, & I think it's a case of tall poppy syndrome, & the U.S. based media hating on them to try helping MS's cause, as no U.S. company has had success in the console manufacturing business, then Nintendo cop the next most, although, they really get it easy compared to Sony, then MS's dirty laundry gets swept under the rug quick smart.

It sucks, cause Sony really are a great console manufacturing company & games company, with some of the best developers in the biz.

man sales number r nothing if u start to get back money in late 2010.....

if i build up a system of 1000$ and i sold it for 500$ ill win EVERYTHING in sales...but how much ill lose?

for each console sold ms get more money than sony do (look at production cost).....at this add XBL price.....(half of the xbox360 owners pay for it) add the kinect (150 euro at launch that is the half of the ps3 price tag) that get a guinness world record in sales where in jan 2012 they sold 18 millions of pieces....and u realize that MS beated hard sony....if we r money talking....

add that xbox exclusives sell more than most of ps3 exclusives

sony need to do something...and do it quickly or it will end like the tv market

ps. developers dont grow up under sony wings.....developers go where they get more money (and we all know how much sony pay to keep some games exclusives) or where they think to sell more

Hard to say who will come out on top next gen but supposing the systems are evenly powered (or close) and priced similarly, I think Sony will have a better start. Although its taken some time this gen, I think Sony has won over (won back, really) the hearts of the better part of the core gaming crowd, and next gen these early adopters will choose Sony over MS. Early adopters are also generally opinion leaders among their peers influencing later adopters purchasing decisions. The ball really is in Sony's court and it's their game to lose, imho. If they botch their launch like last time then MS will be in a prime position to dominate next gen.

Sony is in a prime position right now. They just need to launch at the same time and at the same price point. Then I would attack the fact that after dropping a large sum on a new console, be prepared to pay another $60 for the ability to play online with an Xbox. The Xbox really beat the PS3 out by having an arcade model selling very cheap. Consumers are looking for more bang for their buck today.

I dont know how many times I have heard or met people that say that they are not happy with the 360 anymore. They hate having to PAY for online ( and still get adverts WTF?! ) and basically getting no real exclusives.

SONY is and always has been the better console, and now people are starting to see it.

Because of the long sales struggle with the PS3, the PS4 is kind of going to be seen as like some kind of Dreamcast 2 to some Sony fans. There has been innovative games on the PS3 (although many are indie ones). This needs to continue very quickly on the PS4 because the very start of the PS3's life was rough when Super Rub a Dub was about the best game on the system.

Um... what long sales struggle? There's been a struggle with turning a PROFIT, but sales have never really been a problem. If they were, then the 360 has been having even worse struggles, given that the PS3 has matched it in a year less time.

As for the issues of exclusives, I don't think there's a need to worry about that, honestly.

I think alot of that is fearmongering by the gaming media. They're following a trend set by the news media. A sage piece of wisdom is 'don't believe everything you read in the newspaper or on sketchy gaming blogs on the internet. And just plain don't read anything on Kotaku'.